Kaiser Permanente: We’re Taking on the Opioid Crisis Together

In this Portland Monthly Women Who Move the City issue, PDA’s Mailiki Patterson, DDS explains how dentists are an important aspect Kaiser Permanente’s integrated approach in the Northwest Region. “Many people get their first exposure to opioids through dental procedures,” she says. “It’s our job to lower that exposure.”

Great example of how an integrated health care organization - including dentists such as our very own Mailiki Patterson, DDS, are able to all contribute expertise toward Oregon's opioid crisis. Dr. Mailiki practices at Kaiser Permanente's Clackamas Dental Office and chairs our Peer Review Committee, which helps ensure PDA's 160 dentist and specialists continue following recommended clinical guidelines in the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs to treat dental pain. ...

Way to go @OHSU for spearheading this legislation with @Oregon Dental Association. Thanks to PDA Dental Directors Felix Lee, DMD and Jim Smith, DMD for testifying during hearings last month. As part of a medical-dental integration pilot, Kaiser Permanente Dental provided more than 2,700 flu shots via LPNs in seven dental offices during a 4-month period last fall/winter. A definite convenience for patients, and just another way we're helping to merge medical and dental services for Kaiser Permanente members in the Northwest. ...